


Potential

by Starlight713



Series: The Moments Between [3]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Everyone cries a little bit, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Garrus holds a baby, Gen, Mass Effect 3: Citadel, Miranda deserved better 2k17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 14:29:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11060925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starlight713/pseuds/Starlight713
Summary: Speaking of happy endings.





	Potential

                “So, if it’s an ambush, we just leave.” Rae looked up at him before knocking on the door. “We clean house and then leave the Citadel forever.”

                “At this point, Shepard, I’ll be a little disappointed if it _isn’t_ an ambush.”

                She elbowed his waist, but still hadn’t actually knocked on the door, all joking aside. Miranda had insisted they meet in a rented out room rather than Rae’s apartment when she messaged, which is why he was here in the first place. After everything that had happened on the Citadel—from Kai Leng, to fighting her own clone—she was more than a little wary of walking around alone. He was just glad that, for once, Rae Shepard seemed to realize how much danger she was constantly in and let him help.

                The door slid open and they both jumped. He already had a hand on his assault rifle, just in case. Miranda stood there in the doorway, hand on her hip.

                “Shepard,” Miranda said her name with the smile she usually reserved for Rae. “I got tired of waiting for you to actually knock. Coming in?”

                Rae reached out and hugged Miranda tight before stepping past her through the door. They had seen each other for a bit after that business with the clone, but Miranda hadn’t been by for as long as everyone else. When Rae had gotten back to the apartment after shopping for the party and seen the e-mail, suspicions aside, she’d wasted no time to see what Miranda needed.

                He followed Rae in and Miranda nodded “Vakarian,” as she shut the door behind him.

                “I should have known you’d bring along an escort.”

                “Well.” Rae’s eyes bounced around the room as she talked, assessing. There was a bundle of blankets on the bed, a couple guns on the side table, and a tiny bathroom through a door. Very few places for a potential threat to be hiding. “I _did_ just have to kill my own clone.”

                “That’s fair.” Miranda sat on the edge of the bed. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

                “Sorry?”

                “For, ah, saving the scraps, as it were.” Miranda drummed her fingers on her thigh. “I knew when I was rebuilding you that there was the chance you’d need organs or skin replaced. You get shot at _a lot_ , Commander. I just didn’t realize that the body I’d constructed for harvesting had achieved sentience.”

                “I think that was after your time, from what it told me.”

                “Still.”

                “Your apology’s unnecessary, Miranda.”

                “ _Still._ ”

                “Fine.” Rae sat down next to Miranda on the bed. “Apology accepted.”

                Garrus leaned against the wall. He had never understood it, personally. Rae was fiery and passionate; it made no sense that she and Miranda got along so well. And yet, here they were, side-by-side at the end of the world.

                “So, did you bring me here to ask about rejoining the _Normandy?_ Because Liara filled your old office up with computers, but we could clear out the AI Core or Life Support to jury-rig you a new office.”

                Miranda rubbed the back of her neck, a human gesture that usually (in his experience) came either before bad news, or something awkward. Rae’s lips tugged slightly down at the corners.

                “Not quite. I would love to get back aboard the _Normandy,_ but I can’t.”

                “Can’t? If you are worried about the Alliance—”

                “I’m not, actually.” Miranda took Rae’s hands in her own. “I noticed that I no longer seem to be blacklisted as ex-Cerberus in any Alliance or Citadel systems. Thank you.”

                “Well, you were exonerated by a Spectre for service in the line of duty.” Rae had spent months working on that one. All ex-Cerberus crew had gotten the same record wipe, but as a high-ranking Cerberus official, Miranda’s had been the most challenging. Garrus had helped Rae piece together messages to various members of Alliance brass for hours before bed night after night—writing and rewriting until she got what she wanted. She had even tried getting Miranda a service medal, until Anderson had vid called her to tell her to stop pushing while she was ahead. “No thanks needed.”

                “ _Thank you_ , Shepard.” Miranda leaned back on the bed. “And _that’s_ why I brought you here.” She reached over and picked up the bundle of blankets sitting on the pillow carefully, holding it against her chest before handing it to Rae. The bundle made a tiny mewling sound before Miranda pulled back a corner of blanket to reveal a tiny human face. A baby.

                “Miranda, how—you can’t—I mean.”

                “It’s alright. I know you read my dossier. You’re friends with the Shadow Broker, and this new Shadow Broker tends to struggle with social boundaries.”

                “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snoop; it’s just I—”

                “You had to know your crew. I understand now.” Miranda adjusted the baby in Rae’s awkward grasp. Human babies had tiny round faces with scrunched-up features and no hair. The child’s eyes were way too large for its face, and it made noises he wouldn’t have identified as human, had he not been looking right at the thing. Miranda looked up at him and grinned, one part pleased, one part terribly amused. “Shepard learned this a while back. I can’t conceive a child.”

                “Oh” He didn’t even know that Lawson had _wanted_ a child. “I’m sorry to hear that, Miranda.” The baby began to make quiet hiccupping noises, but Miranda reached over and after a moment, it quieted back down.

                Rae adjusted her hold again, all of her focus on the child.  “So how did this little guy happen?”

                “Girl. And she was from Benning. She was one of the very few refugees salvaged from the Benning colony. Her parents were confirmed dead. Apparently, she was being looked after by a couple of kids from the area when the Alliance brought them in. The kids have already been adopted out by other survivors, but no one wanted to take care of an infant in a war zone. Too high-maintenance.”

                Rae looked down at the little bundle in her arms and stroked a finger across the tiny forehead. He had never seen that look on her face before. Soft. Curious. Unsure. Warm. He hadn’t ever considered it. Did Rae _want_ children? Was that even an option, biologically speaking? He didn’t think so, but they could adopt, like Miranda. It had never occurred to him. They had never talked about the possibility of a family after the war. She didn’t like talking about “after the war” anyways, because she said it made her sad to think there might not _be_ an after for her. She settled the baby into her lap and looked down at the little face again.

                “What’s her name?”

                “Rae.” Miranda was looking down at her daughter. “Rae Oriana Lawson.”

                Rae looked up at Miranda and then back down at the baby. “ _Miranda_.”

                “I was able to adopt her because you cleared my record. When they pulled up my information, there was little left to read, and nothing to keep me from adopting. I picked her up this morning.”

                Miranda looked back down at the baby in Rae’s arms. The baby that carried her name.

                “Do you have clothes for her? A carrier? Is there anything I could get you?” Rae looked around the room again, but there was nothing in the room but them, so far as he could see. “Where is all the stuff for the baby?”

                “That’s the other reason I called you here.” Miranda rested a hand on Rae’s shoulder. Contact. A comforting gesture. “We’re headed out to Amaterasu tomorrow morning. Already packed and everything. They have limited space for refugees to the human colony there. It is between an Alliance base and Illium, so it’s about as safe as we could be.”

                “Amaterasu.” Rae’s grip on the child tightened. “That’s where Ash’s family was from.”

                “Your old crewmate?”

                “Yeah. She had a few sisters and a mother there, last I heard. The Williams.”

                Miranda smiled. “Well then. I’ll be sure to look them up.”

                Rae stroked the baby’s face again. Her eyes watered. “Wow, Miranda.”

                “I know.”

                Rae slid the baby back into Miranda’s open arms and then hugged them both tight. Garrus had known Miranda when she served on the _Normandy_ , but this was a new side of her he’d never even known existed. Who would have guessed that cold, competent Miranda wanted to be a parent?  But then, Rae brought things out in people that no one else could. He shouldn’t have been surprised she’d seen a facet of Miranda everyone else had missed. He leaned back against the wall of the hotel room with his hands folded behind his back.

                “Do you want to hold her, Garrus?”

                He felt a faint shock at hearing his name in all this. Miranda grinned and for a moment, he wasn’t sure he’d heard her right.

                “Hold her?” He repeated it back as if his translator was busted and he was trying to piece together what the words meant. Rae snorted a laugh.

                “She won’t bite. Human babies don’t even have teeth. Here.” Miranda stood up and shifted the bundle into his arms. Suddenly, he was holding this lump that squirmed a little when he adjusted his grip. He hummed under his breath in something like a panic. It was solid and small, but squishy. Squishier than normal adult humans, which didn’t seem practical. How did a species that started out so squishy survive to adulthood? Well, there were the Hanar, he supposed. It had been half-asleep, but woke with a twitch and fixed him with a huge-eyed stare. He must have made a startled noise at that, because Rae full out laughed at him and Miranda jumped up to help, hands fluttering around his arms and the baby, adjusting and soothing by turns.

                “You’re doing fine,” she chided with a playful smirk. “Just don’t crush her.”

                Of course. He was wearing full armor and if he squeezed just a little too tight, he could squash her. But if he didn’t hold on tight enough, she could fall. He was more at-ease fighting _Reapers_. Everything about his posture and tone must have been radiating “help me,” but when he looked down at Rae, hopeful for an assist, he caught her staring up at him with a soft smile.

                Maybe he could stand here for another minute.

                He looked down at the baby and she was still staring. She squirmed a little, so he adjusted her in his arms until she seemed comfortable. Or, at least, still. Little Rae stared up at him like she was trying to figure something out. Then, without warning, she reached up and slapped his mandible surprisingly hard. He could hear Miranda and Rae laughing, but he was afraid to look away from the child. Her hand was tiny and warm as she tried to grasp at his face. She made this little burbling laugh sound.

                “I think she likes you, Garrus.” Rae’s tone was joking, but her voice was warm.

                “Do your young hit to express affection?” He had tiny fingers wrapped half around his lower jaw, but he couldn’t figure out how to disentangle them because he was too busy focusing on holding the baby upright.

                “Babies are tactile,” Miranda explained. “It’s how they learn.”  

                He hadn’t had a lot of experience with Turian babies, let alone alien babies, but that didn’t seem like a good way to survive infancy. If she tried to grab at one of his teeth…The baby—little Rae—already had sharp claws, though, so maybe he was wrong. After a moment, she started making noise again—shrill, painful, bleating little cries. He handed her back to Miranda, who jostled her a bit and made cooing sounds until the crying petered out. Admittedly, his arms felt curiously empty when he handed her back. He rolled his shoulder and leaned back against the wall.

                “Miranda,” he started. Both women looked up at him. “I know you said you couldn’t come, but I’m sure we could tuck the child in upstairs if you wanted to swing by for the party.”

                Miranda looked back at Shepard and then down at the baby in her arms.

                “We have to leave early in the morning.”

                Rae grinned. “We can sneak you out before it gets too late.”

                Miranda wrapped little Rae up snug and set her back down on the pillow at the head of the bed, her hands in her lap. Finally, she sighed and leaned her head on Rae’s shoulder.

                “You always know how to pull me back in, Shepard.”

                Garrus completely understood the feeling.

                “I’ll make sure Vega saves you some pizza, then. Vegetarian?”

                Miranda smiled in a way that felt private—like he shouldn’t be here watching all this. She and Rae clasped hands before standing up. They agreed to meet up later for the party and, as Miranda showed them out, Rae glanced back at her namesake and waved.

 

                Later, when they were preparing her apartment for the party, he caught Rae arranging what looked like a little nest out of clean sheets on their bed.


End file.
